Monday - Friday, 6-9 a.m.

Host Tom Temin brings you the latest news affecting the federal community each weekday morning, featuring interviews with top government executives and contractors. Listen live from 6 to 9 a.m. or download archived interviews below.

Today's guests:

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has announced his intention to step down from his current position in the coming weeks. While there, the agency has done much to promote broadband throughout the country but agenda items like spectrum re-use and so-called net neutrality haven't materialized. Alan Tilles is chairman of the Telecommunications Department and Entertainment Practice Group at the law firm, Shulman Rogers, and has argued many cases before the FCC. He spoke with the Federal Drive about Genachowski's legacy.

Military suicides are on the rise. Those most likely to kill themselves are white men in their 20s with a high-school education and legal or money problems — that's what the Pentagon knows. But what's harder to get at is why those people commit suicide. The department has 900 programs aimed at spotting warning signs and preventing suicides. Jacqueline Garrick, the acting director of the Defense Suicide Prevention Office, testified before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel recently about the Pentagon's suicide prevention programs. She spoke with the Federal Drive about what each program brings to the table and where there's room for improvement.

A former chief scientist for Kentucky-based defense contractor, MPD, is facing a year in prison. His crime — buying and using pirated software from Russian and Chinese hackers. Prosecutors say Dr. Wronald Best used the software to design components for military helicopters and weapon systems — including the patriot missile — raising questions about software security. Jon Berroya, director of the BSA Software Alliance's Global Internet Enforcement Team, talked with the Federal Drive about how common this could be within the government contracting community.

John WagnerDirector, Admissibility and Passenger Programs
Customs and Border Protection

Have you ever been handed an immigration form on an airplane, only to lose it by the time you get to border patrol? Customs and Border Protection is now doing away with at least some of that hassle for individuals coming into the United States. It's released a final rule to automate the I-94 form, which international visitors coming into the United States must fill out. John Wagner, director of admissibility and passenger programs for CBP, spoke with the Federal Drive about how the updated form will help travelers.

Also on the show:

From Our Reporters:

Ever since the Defense Department and the Veterans Affairs Department decided to revise their approach to building a joint electronic health record earlier this year, DoD's been on the hunt for a system it can implement fast. VA's making the case that DoD should simply adopt its record system, VistA. Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu tells us how likely that is to happen. Read Jared's story and listen to his full report.

It took a little convincing for investigators and auditors in the Postal Service's Office of the Inspector General to accept new tools for analyzing data. But once the counter measures and performance evaluation team in the OIG's office overcame the initial resistance, the use of data to make better decisions became widespread. Bryan Jones, the director of the counter measures and performance evaluation, or CAPE, team in the Inspector General's office, told Federal News Radio's Jason Miller how his office helped auditors and investigators see the value in the data analytics tools. Read Jason's story and listen to his full interview with Jones.

Tuition assistance is being reinstated across the military services. It had been originally halted under sequestration, but was restored under the 2013 funding bill Congress passed last week. Mark Wright, a DoD spokesman, told reporters, "DoD agrees with Congress that the tuition assistance program is very important, both to the department and our service members. Each service is responsible for funding and administering its tuition assistance program in accordance with the DoD tuition assistance policy. We are working with the services to develop a plan to comply with any legislation."